Fionn stood in the opening, the mists of his world swirling around the gleaming silver of his mail. It was raining in the land of Faerie, though the sun shone in the human world as hard as it could.
Andrea walked to him, Sean right on her heels. The other Shifters hadn’t seen, but they would, and who knew what they’d do once they knew a gate to Faerie could open behind Glory’s house? How Fionn had opened the gate without Andrea being asleep and dreaming, she didn’t know either. But she would be sure to ask him.
As she neared him, Fionn reached out a hand gloved in finest leather. “Andrea. Child. Take my hand. Let me cross.”
“Don’t touch him,” Sean rumbled.
Fionn’s eyes flashed anger. “Can you not let me come to my own daughter’s wedding?”
“It’s a mate blessing under the sun,” Andrea said. “Not the same thing.”
His voice softened. “Please.”
Andrea saw something other than arrogance and rage today in Fionn’s dark eyes. Sorrow. Loneliness. Need. The Shifters partied by the Morrissey house, the scent of barbecued ribs floating on the breeze. Here in the grove behind Glory’s house it was quiet, mists drifting from Faerie to dissolve in the Texas sunshine.
“All right,” Andrea said. “If you promise to behave yourself.”
Sean stopped her. “Andrea, no.”
“Come on, Sean. I need to know.”
She hadn’t told Sean what she’d planned if she saw Fionn again, and she didn’t have time to tell him now. Without giving herself time to think about it, Andrea shook off Sean’s hold and held her hand out to Fionn’s.
The moment Andrea touched him, Fionn’s expression turned from sorrow to triumphant glee. He grabbed Andrea’s wrists and yanked her toward him, and she heard Sean yell as she went hurtling toward the gap.
Fionn started to laugh, a laugh that cut off in a scream as Andrea slapped the first steel handcuff she’d pulled from her belt around his wrist. Fionn stared in disbelief. Andrea smiled hugely as she clicked the second cuff around his other wrist, hooked her finger around the cuffs and dragged Fionn into the human world.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Fae warrior wrenched away from Andrea and fell to his knees, his chain mail rattling as he clawed at his wrists. “They’re burning! Get them off me!”
Sean whipped his sword from its sheath and rested the point against Fionn’s neck. “Sun and moon, Andrea, where the hell did you get handcuffs?”
“Glory.” At Sean’s amazed look, she added. “Don’t ask.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not wanting to know.”
Andrea gazed sternly down at Fionn. “So, the great Fionn Cillian, now that you’re here, do you still maintain that I’m your daughter?”
“Of course I do. No other would dare bind me.”
Sean let out a laugh. “I see where you get your self-confidence, Andy-love. What do you want to do with him, now that you have him trussed?”
Andrea crouched down to face Fionn. He glared back at her with eyes as black as night.
“Prove it,” Andrea said. “Prove that you sired me, and I’ll let you go back to Faerie land.”
“My word should be good enough.”
“Oh, sure, because no Fae would ever lie to a Shifter.”
“Damn you, child, these manacles are killing me. Take them off and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
“Tell me what I want to know, and then I’ll take them off.”
Anger and fierce pride surged on Fionn’s face. “There’s no doubt to me that you’re my get. Here.” He thrust shaking hands under his mail coat and pulled a chain from a hidden pocket. Delicate silver links shaped like leaves formed a bracelet, and a unicorn charm dangled from every other link. “This was hers, your mother’s. She gave it to me that last night, when I left her, knowing I could never return.”
Andrea had seen bracelets like this in the shops she and Glory had gone to in SoCo, though this one was of real, heavy silver. It was definitely human-made, however; a trinket that a Shifter woman might have seen and liked.
“That’s Dina’s.”
Glory stopped next to Andrea, her face stricken. Andrea became aware that most of the Shifters had moved this way, the conversations stalling and drifting to silence.
Glory yanked the bracelet out of Fionn’s hands. “Damn you. That was my sister’s.”
“Are you sure?” Andrea asked her.
Glory’s eyes blazed. “Of course I’m sure. I gave it to her. Why does he have it? Don’t tell me this is the f**king Fae who seduced her.”
“Yes,” Fionn said without flinching. “I am that f**king Fae.”
Glory screamed and let fly a kick, her five-inch heel driving toward his face.
Fionn had reflexes a Feline would envy. Even with his hands bound, even in pain, he caught Glory’s foot as it went by, flipped her onto her back, and got to his feet, all the while evading Sean’s sword.
“Cowards,” he spat. “Shifters, fighting a man caught and chained. Is that the best you can do?”
Dylan’s savage growl filled the clearing as Glory struggled up, mud all over her silver lamé. Andrea turned and stepped in front of Dylan.
“Get out of my way,” Dylan snarled at her.
Dylan had never looked more terrifying, but Andrea couldn’t afford to back down. If she let him tear through Fionn, she’d never know the truth.